Jazz rookie Ace Bailey earns praise from Hall of Famer Dwyane Wade
Bailey was a third-team All-Big Ten selection last season at Rutgers, averaging 17.6 points, 7.2 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 1.3 blocks and one steal on 34.6% shooting from 3-point range. He ranked ninth among all freshmen in points (527) and 10th in rebounds (215).
The 6-foot-8 forward fell to the Jazz with the fifth pick after orchestrating a precarious predraft process. Even with all the controversy surrounding Bailey, Wade, a minority team owner, believes that CEO Danny Ainge & Co. made the right decision to select him.
"Getting a young guy like Ace Bailey, the talent that he has, you cannot pass him up," Wade said on the "Time Out" podcast. "There is no way. Even though the rumor mill was saying that he wanted to go to certain teams, there's no way you can pass him up. He is too talented. He is one of those guys that just walk in the gym, and he can get you 30. He is just one of those Melo-type of scorer type of players, so (you) had to get him. I thought Danny and the staff did an amazing job of grabbing a young fella."
Bailey was a highly-touted prospect entering the draft because of his size, scoring and instincts on both ends of the court. He was viewed by many as the third-best prospect in the class and likely would have been picked at that position had it been a more favorable destination in his view.
The 18-year-old debuted with the Jazz on July 5, recording eight points and seven rebounds. He had 18 points, seven rebounds and three assists two days later and hasn't played since then because of a hip injury that is considered day to day.
Despite logging only 30 total minutes, Bailey has had the chance to flash his overall skill set in a small sample size. The team has been encouraged by him in the early going, and his work hasn't gone unnoticed by Wade and the rest of the front office.
"As soon as he got there, he clocked in and went right to work," Wade said. "He is going to be fine. I think, as he allows it, he is going to understand he is in a very good organization. He is in a very good spot to allow himself to grow: One as a young man, but also as a young basketball player in this league. I think it was a very good move for him, and we'll see how he responds to it, but I think everyone's excited about the young core in Utah."
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USA Today
9 minutes ago
- USA Today
Milwaukee Brewers are an 'island of misfit toys' – and MLB's hottest team
They're that Toyota Prius in a parking lot full of Bentleys and Rolls-Royces. They're that ground chuck burger on a menu with tomahawk steaks and lobster tails. They are the unwanted, the discarded, and the castoffs of Major League Baseball. They are the Milwaukee Brewers. 'The island," Brewers reliever Grant Anderson tells USA TODAY Sports, 'of misfit toys.'' It was the moniker Brewers pitching coach Chris Hook placed on his staff, with Brewers manager Pat Murphy chiming in, saying his entire team, is 'Just a bunch of average Joes." MLB POWER RANKINGS: Brewers sweep Dodgers again, leaving big-bucks LA in dust Well, these anonymous castoffs just may be the best darn team in all of baseball, tied with the Chicago Cubs for baseball's best record, 60-41, while winning 35 of their last 48 games, including 11 of their last 12. Yes, the Brewers, whose $124 million payroll is the seventh-smallest in baseball, and less than what the Los Angeles Dodgers are projected to pay in luxury tax penalties this year. Yes, the Brewers, who don't have a single player hitting .300, who has 20 homers, or whose WAR ranks higher than 60th in MLB. Yes, the Brewers, who have only two players earning more than $10 million this season. 'No one knows who we are," Murphy says, 'but we do. It's like I told the reporters in LA. No disrespect to the great fans of Japan baseball, but they can't name five players in our lineup.' Well, hate to break the news to Murphy, but baseball fans right here in the good ol' USA can't name five Brewers players, either. Sure, go ahead and try. There's former MVP and two-time batting champion Christian Yelich. There's 21-year-old center field sensation Jackson Chourio. There's two-time All-Star catcher William Contreras. There's uh, well, that kid who throws 101mph on every pitch, what's his name, Miz something? Anyone else? 'We don't get recognized anywhere," Brewers left fielder Isaac Collins says. 'I mean, even in town, I think I've only been recognized once or twice. No one knows who we are." Well, considering they're on pace to reach the postseason for the seventh time in the last eight years, with four NL Central Division titles, it's about time everyone finds out. 'We're going to start wearing 'Power of Friendship' T-shirts," All-Star closer Trevor Megill says, 'then people can start recognizing who we are. I mean, people were freaking out last year when we won 93 games. Maybe they didn't think we could do it again." The Brewers are reminding folks that even if you don't wear Armani suits, Gucci shoes and David Yurman gold chains, all you need is a comfortable pair of spikes, a broken-in glove, the right bat, and the unselfish desire to play the game the right way to make the rich and famous wallowing in jealousy. The Brewers have no power, and not a lot of speed, but, oh, do they play the game hard, they play it right, and they will beat your brains in playing small ball. 'We're the little engine that could," Murphy says. 'We have no pop. We have no slug. We don't have a lot of things. But we have a lot of heart 'These guys are hungry. 'And it's hard to be hungry when you're full." The Brewers make up for their power deficit by putting the ball in play. They rarely strike out. They bunt. They hit-and-run. They play defense. They attack. Simply, they're relentless. 'It's nice for America to see that our brand of baseball works," Collins says. 'You don't have to live and die by the long ball. You just have to do all of the little things right. 'That's all we're doing, just being ourselves." And, poking a little of fun at themselves in the process. When the Brewers signed a backup player for $1.35 million during the winter, Murphy sent Andrew Friedman, Dodgers president of baseball operations a note: "Hey Andy, sorry, but when you were signing Shohei Ohtani, [Yoshinobu] Yamamoto and Blake Snell, we stole this guy from you. Sorry about that." When players are traded to Milwaukee, GM Matt Arnold cracks, 'You don't get traded to the big leagues. You get traded to Milwaukee JUCO." And when you enter the Brewers clubhouse, you feel as if you're walking into a movie set or a comedy club, with Murphy being called 'Patches O'Houlihan," from the 2004 movie 'Dodgeball." 'That's what we do here,'' Murphy says. 'We dodge, duck, dip, dive and dodge. We need to get those T-shirts made." This also is the place where you can be released, designated for assignment, traded or dumped, and come resurrect your career. The Brewers will take your sick, your hungry, your weary, and even your ex-Colorado Rockies. The Brewers acquired reliever Nick Mears from the Rockies for two minor leaguers last July, and picked up Collins from the Rockies in 2022 in the Triple-A phase of the Rule 5 Draft. Mears has since become one of their most reliable relievers, yielding a .200 batting average this season with a 0.86 WHIP – sixth among all relievers. Collins won the starting left field job and is hitting .269 with a .777 OPS. 'It seems like half the guys here have been DFA'd or come over in a trade," Mears says, 'but once you get over here, you buy into the culture. There's a hunger to win, especially coming from a bad team. You want to prove to yourself that you're more than just a DFA guy. Just imagine how first baseman Andrew Vaughn was feeling. The former first-round pick couldn't even stick with the Chicago Sox. He was demoted and sent back to the minors for the first time since 2019. He was still languishing in the minors when Brewers veteran Aaron Civale asked to be traded, upset he was being taken out of the rotation for rookie sensation Jacob Misiorowski. In less than 24 hours, Arnold was sending Civale to the White Sox for Vaughn. Vaughn returned to the minors but when first baseman Rhys Hoskins sprained a thumb ligament two weeks ago, he was summoned. Vaughn hit a three-run homer in his first at-bat with the Brewers, and never stopped, hitting .333 with two doubles, two homers, 12 RBI and a 1.071 OPS during an 11-game winning streak. 'It's pretty special being here," Vaughn says. 'You can see why they have so much success." There is starter Quinn Priester, given up by the Pittsburgh Pirates after being a first-round draft pick in 2019, and then the Boston Red Sox, who traded him April 7 to the Brewers. The Red Sox didn't think he could help them, but the Brewers believed in his pedigree, and with a little tinkering of his arsenal, could be a force. You think the Red Sox could use him now? Priester, who added a cut-fastball to his arsenal, is 8-2 with a 3.33 ERA. He pitched six shutout innings, yielding just three hits and striking out 10 without a walk in his last outing against the Dodgers. 'I remember as soon as I got traded here," Priester says, 'I had a bunch of guys text me telling me how good this team is developing pitchers in the system, and they do such a great job. You look at how many of us came from different organizations and got better here. 'We're not here to prove people wrong, but to just enjoy the camaraderie, with everyone buying in to do whatever it takes to win." There is Caleb Durbin, a Division III player at Washington University in St. Louis, who was traded twice in two years without spending a day in the big leagues. The Brewers scouts loved his fiery demeanor, playing almost with a chip in his shoulder, knowing his style perfectly fit Murphy's mold. So, when the Brewers traded All Star closer Devin Williams to the Yankees, they made sure Durbin was in the deal along with veteran starter Nestor Cortes. 'I know we're a small market team," Durbin says, 'but we're still a big-league team. We still have good baseball players. It's just we're overlooked because of our makeup. 'That's OK. We know how good we are. If you're not ready to scrap nine innings with us, at the end of the game, you're going to be on the wrong end of it." Infielder Joey Ortiz came over from Baltimore in the Corbin Burnes trade along with pitcher DL Hall. He was their starting third baseman last season, is now a Gold Globe candidate at shortstop, reminding Arnold of former defensive whizzes Walt Weiss or Rey Ordonez. Megill was an original Padre. Then a Cub. Then a Twin. And two years later, after being acquired by the Brewers for a player to be named later, Megill is now an All Star. He has 44 saves the last two years and became the Brewers' full-time closer when the Brewers traded Williams. 'When we told him he made the All Star team," Arnold says, 'he gave me a big hug. It was like hugging a Sequoia tree. He's just a big moose. We thought he could handle the job, and he's been great." Williams sensed he was gone last year after giving up that game-winning homer to Mets first baseman Pete Alonso in the Division series. It was a gut-wrenching end to the Brewers' season, the last game beloved Hall of Fame broadcaster Bob Uecker called. 'That was as tough a loss as I've ever been part of," Arnold says. 'But nobody said, 'That's it.' We've been knocked down a lot of times here. We always get up. 'We have a standard here that we tried to hold ourselves to. We're never going to make excuses where we are in the world being the smallest market in baseball. We believe in ourselves, but we just have to do it differently, try to be creative, and have guys that nobody heard of step up." It was really no different when the Brewers opened the season losing their first four games of the season by a combined score of 47-15, the biggest run differential in MLB history. They still were four games under .500 (21-25) six weeks into the season. Then, a funny thing happened. The pitching staff, which opened the season with 11 of their top 16 pitchers injured, began to get healthy. Those cast-offs started gelling. And then, on May 25, they rallied from a 5-3 deficit in the eighth inning against the Pirates to win, 6-5. They have since been baseball's hottest team. 'We don't have guys making $20 million a year," says Anderson, who's on his third team after being designated for assignment last December by the Rangers, 'like we did when I was in Texas. We don't have four MVPs in the lineup like the Dodgers. We don't have a lot of things. 'But we believe in each other. We know how to win games. And we have a lot of confidence." It's proven to be quite the lethal combination So, you may want to hurry up and get to know these Brewers' names. Come October, it could be quite handy. The USA TODAY app gets you to the heart of the news — fast. Download for award-winning coverage, crosswords, audio storytelling, the eNewspaper and more.
USA Today
39 minutes ago
- USA Today
Iowa football trio named to preseason USA TODAY Sports All-Big Ten team
With Big Ten media days just around the corner for Iowa on Thursday in Las Vegas, USA TODAY Sports released its preseason All-Big Ten team. And the Hawkeyes had some good representation. The team was created by writers who cover every single team in the conference and features five unanimous selections, one of which was a Hawkeye. It may be a surprise to note that Iowa doesn't have a single defensive player on the team, a sign that people are taking a wait-and-see approach to a Hawkeyes defense that lost Jay Higgins, Nick Jackson, and Sebastian Castro, among others. Regardless, it's a nice nod for the three Hawkeyes named to this team and should have Iowa fans feeling more confident about the offense and special teams units on this year's team. Without any further ado, let's take a look at which Hawkeyes made USA TODAY Sports' preseason All-Big Ten team. Which Hawkeyes made the USA TODAY Sports preseason All-Big Ten team? Logan Jones, Gennings Dunker, and Kaden Wetjen were the three Hawkeyes named to the team. Jones was one of five unanimous selections to the team, joining Jeremiah Smith and Sonny Styles of Ohio State, Olaivavega Ioane of Penn State, and Dominic Zvada of Michigan. The 6-foot-3, 302-pound graduate student center has anchored the Iowa offensive line for three years and was named first-team All-Big Ten by the media last season. Jones has also been named a preseason first-team All-Big Ten player by Athlon Sports and Phil Steele this offseason. Jones is joined on the USA TODAY Sports All-Big Ten team by another offensive lineman in Gennings Dunker. The 6-foot-5, 315-pound senior right tackle was named second-team All-Big Ten by the coaches and third-team All-Big Ten by the media last season. Dunker started at right tackle the last two seasons and has been a big stabilizing force on the offensive line alongside Jones. Dunker's role will be imperative this season with a new quarterback under center. The final Hawkeye to make the team was Kaden Wetjen, named as the All-Purpose player. The 5-foot-9, 196-pound senior return specialist started his collegiate career at Iowa Western Community College before transferring to Iowa. He was named first-team All-Big Ten by the coaches and media last season, in addition to taking home the Rodgers-Dwight Return Specialist of the Year award. Wetjen was named a preseason first-team All-Big Ten player by Athlon Sports and Phil Steele as well. This trio of Hawkeyes will be hugely important to the success of Iowa football in 2025. Assuming they play up to the standards that everyone believes they can, Iowa's offensive line should be really good and the special teams will set them up with short fields. The Hawkeyes return to the field in just over a month for the season opener on Aug. 30 against Albany. Contact/Follow us @HawkeyesWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Iowa news, notes and opinions. Follow Zach on X: @zach_hiney
USA Today
39 minutes ago
- USA Today
The absurdity of absolute power. Big Ten, SEC fight to shape College Football Playoff
LAS VEGAS — The Big Ten and SEC control the future of the College Football Playoff. The Big Ten and the SEC can't agree on anything. Which tracks about just how you think it would in Sin City, driving directly into the theater of the absurd. 'I'm not going to put any deadline on it,' Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti said Tuesday of negotiations for the new CFP format, while opening Big Ten Media Days at Mandalay Bay Resort. I know this is going to shock you, but SEC commissioner Greg Sankey made it clear last week during SEC Media Days that, 'We have a deadline of Dec. 1.' Just when you thought the great College Football Playoff format debate couldn't devolve to more ridiculous levels, Indiana coach Curt Cignetti entered the chat and changed everything. Forget about the Big Ten and its desired 16-team format that focuses on automatic qualifiers (four each for the Big Ten and SEC) and the need for CFP play-in games during championship week. Forget about the SEC and its desire for 11 at-large selections of the 16, based heavily on strength of schedule. Cignetti wants everyone to know that the CFP selection committee has too much power in the process. The very committee that last year selected his 11-win team – with one win against a team with a winning record – to the exclusive party. The same guy who, when asked Tuesday about Indiana dropping a non-conference game against big, bad Virginia for a Championship Subdivision directional school, responded with, 'We figured we'd just adopt the SEC scheduling philosophy.' I swear I'm not making this up. SCHEDULE DEBATE: Indiana coach fires hot at SEC after dropping Virginia POWER RANKINGS: Where the Big Ten teams stack from first to worst But at this point, nothing should be surprising in this ever-more-absurd cock walk. Each ego-driven, billion dollar conference trying to exert power over the other, in a blatantly awkward swinging dictator contest. The Big Ten doesn't want to be seen as the SEC's little brother. The SEC doesn't want to be pushed into a corner, and bend the knee to the conference it has dominated on the field for decades. Sankey touted the SEC's historical strength of schedule in defense of 11 at-large selections. Winning 14 national titles since 2000 doesn't hurt, either. Petitti responded by declaring the Big Ten played in eight of the 11 CFP games in 2024, had the four most viewed television games on the season and seven of the top 10. Then he dropped the ultimate "scoreboard" hammer: 'We just stand by what we do in the Big Ten. I think the national results have shown the last couple of seasons.' Translation: the Big Ten has won the last two national titles. The SEC has done … what exactly? There's nothing logical about this public spat, nothing tangible that can be easily negotiated with clear minds or paid off with more money — which a 16-team CFP most certainly brings. This is about superiority and inferiority, and where the SEC and Big Ten fit. No matter the collateral damage. Imagine you're Rich Clark, executive director of the College Football Playoff. A distinguished 38-year career in the Air Force, retired as a Lieutenant General — the second-highest general officer rank. You're minding your own business at Big Ten media days, sitting quietly in the back of the large ballroom when some schlub who just picked up his first power conference coaching job starts throwing darts at your committee. A committee the SEC and Big Ten played a critical role in creating and developing, and growing into the singular, insular monster it has become. So I asked this titan of service to his country, and frankly, to the Big Ten and SEC and every other college football conference, what it was like to watch Cignetti kneecap his committee. Was it difficult to watch? 'Yeah,' Clark said, smiling wide — and then he stopped himself. Because like all military personnel, he knows there's oder and there's consequences for going outside it. 'The committee selected Indiana,' Clark continued, 'And I think it was the right decision, too.' Would you look at that, a lesson in swallowing ego and pride for the greater good. No swinging dictators necessary. Matt Hayes is the senior national college football writer for USA TODAY Sports Network. Follow him on X at @MattHayesCFB.
